In the new issue of Regulation, economist Pierre Lemieux argues that the recent oil price decline is at least partly the result of increased supply from the extraction of shale oil. The increased supply allows the economy to produce more goods, which benefits some people, if not all of them. Thus, contrary to some commentary in the press, cheaper oil prices cannot harm the economy as a whole.

Two long wars, chronic deficits, the financial crisis, the costly drug war, the growth of executive power under Presidents Bush and Obama, and the revelations about NSA abuses, have given rise to a growing libertarian movement in our country – with a greater focus on individual liberty and less government power. David Boaz’s newly released The Libertarian Mind is a comprehensive guide to the history, philosophy, and growth of the libertarian movement, with incisive analyses of today’s most pressing issues and policies.

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Tag: teacher bailout

Over the weekend, the White House released a “new” report explaining why President Obama thinks the Feds need to spend – er, “invest” – $25 billion on public school staffing. Since July 2009 “the economy lost over 300,000 local education jobs.”

For the same reason he should never have tried: While no one likes to see someone lose a job, the fact of the matter is we’ve seen decades of public-school hiring and spending binges, ultimately without even close to commensurate achievement gains to show for them. Between 1969-70 and Fall 2009 pupil-to-staff ratios dropped from 13.6-to-1 to 7.8-to-1 – a huge staffing increase. Pupil-to-teacher ratios dropped from 22.6-to-1 to 15.4-to-1. Meanwhile, National Assessment of Educational Progress scores for 17-year-olds – our schools “final products” – were almost completely stagnant. And that 300,000 figure? It seems like a lot, but in 2010 there were almost 6.2 million local, public K-12 employees. That’s a less than 5 percent trimming.

In addition to the dearth of evidence that more hiring will do appreciable good, there are two other big problems. The first is that $25 billion is a lot of money that we simply don’t have. Anyone notice the national debt is about to surpass $16 trillion? And the second: The federal government has no constitutional authority to waste our dough in the name of education.

Frankly, this bailout idea is really stale, and we at Cato’s Center for Educational Freedom are getting a little tired of ripping it to shreds. But as long as people continue to believe that public schools have no money, and that someone else (hint: “the rich”) will pay the bills, we’ll constantly be offered such reality-be-darned proposals.